Chapter 76: Butterfly Flower

At the residence of Fang Jinghua, a senior official of the Communist Party Municipal Committee of Hangzhou, on Imperial Street.

Fang Jinghua did not dare turn on the electric light and instead lit an oil lamp.

He poured a cup of water for Luo Six.

Luo Six gulped it down in several large swallows and wiped his mouth.

“Secretary Fang, I have important information to report.”

“Comrade Huai Tree, I’ve been waiting for you.” Fang Jinghua asked directly, “Do you know what happened at Selling Fish Bridge Wharf?”

When Fang Jinghua mentioned Selling Fish Bridge Wharf, a look of grief appeared on Luo Six’s face.

“I was there.” Luo Six nodded. “I was also the one who passed the intelligence about agents at the wharf to Number Three Yulu Alley.”

Fang Jinghua nodded.

As expected.

He had already suspected that it was Comrade Huai Tree who had passed the intelligence from the wharf to Meng Qiang.

“What exactly happened?” Fang Jinghua asked in a deep voice. “Why were there so many agents at the wharf? Was it your Special Service Office setting an ambush?”

“No.” Luo Six shook his head. “The Hangzhou Special Service Office received orders to set up an ambush at the wharf and capture Japanese agents coming from Manchukuo.”

“Capture Japanese agents from Manchukuo?” Fang Jinghua was surprised.

He immediately thought of the traitor Wen Changjian.

“Were you waiting to capture Japanese agents among the passengers arriving on the steamship?”

“No. As far as I know, the targets had already arrived in Hangzhou. Intelligence indicated they would come to the wharf, so we followed orders and set up an ambush there to arrest them,” Luo Six said.

They had already arrived in Hangzhou?

Not passengers on a steamship that had yet to arrive.

Fang Jinghua thought it over.

This did not match the intelligence he had received.

Could it be that the Special Service Office’s target was not Wen Changjian’s group?

But members of another Japanese spy organization?

“The ones who set the ambush for Gao Lan and the others were from the Party Affairs Investigation Department,” Luo Six continued.

“I didn’t know beforehand that the Party Affairs Investigation Department had set up an ambush there. I saw Gao Lan leading several comrades at the wharf and worried that the Special Service Office personnel would notice them, so I passed intelligence to Number Three Yulu Alley and asked them to contact Gao Lan and warn him to withdraw.”

“After the intelligence was sent out, I only later noticed that Party Affairs Investigation Department personnel were there as well.”

At this point, Luo Six revealed a pained expression.

“I didn’t know that Number Three Yulu Alley couldn’t contact higher authorities and would be forced to use that method to give a warning. Otherwise...”

He did not finish the sentence.

But Fang Jinghua understood what he meant.

Patting Luo Six on the shoulder, he said, “Comrade Huai Tree, don’t blame yourself. You made the correct choice. Your mission is to remain undercover inside the Special Service Office. Without organizational orders, you cannot expose yourself.”

“But that comrade, he sacrificed himself just like that.” Luo Six’s eyes reddened. “He died just like that. He had a wife, and a child, and he...”

He could not continue.

“Yes, he sacrificed himself just like that.” Fang Jinghua’s eyes grew moist as he sighed.

He was suffering as well.

But there was nothing he could do.

Such was the cruelty of underground struggle.

“So you’re saying the Party Affairs Investigation Department knew Gao Lan would go to the wharf and therefore set up an ambush?” Fang Jinghua asked.

“Based on my guess, that should be the case.” Luo Six thought for a moment before speaking. “He Huan, the Political Director of the Party Affairs Investigation Department, personally led the operation. It didn’t seem like a chance encounter. They were targeting a specific objective.”

Fang Jinghua’s expression became extremely grave.

If Comrade Huai Tree’s speculation was correct, then the problem was severe.

Just last night, the Municipal Committee had held a meeting and arranged for Comrade Gao Lan to go to the wharf to eliminate a traitor.

Yet the Party Affairs Investigation Department had obtained the information so quickly and prepared a trap.

What did that mean?

It meant there was very likely an undercover agent from the Party Affairs Investigation Department inside the organization.

Realizing this, cold sweat broke out across Fang Jinghua’s back.

The enemy had infiltrated so deeply that they had practically reached the doorstep of the Municipal Committee.

The situation was extraordinarily serious.

“Secretary Fang, do you suspect...”

“Yes, I suspect there’s a spy within the organization.” Seeing that Luo Six had already reached the same conclusion, Fang Jinghua did not conceal it and admitted it directly.

“A spy!”

Hearing his suspicion confirmed, Luo Six was equally shocked.

“Yes, a spy. Or perhaps a traitor,” Fang Jinghua said gravely.

“What do you need me to do?”

“I’ll investigate this matter myself. You keep an eye on things on your side as well,” Fang Jinghua said.

The Special Service Office and the Party Affairs Investigation Department were both Nationalist intelligence agencies.

Luo Six had some chance of uncovering information.

However, that chance would not be great.

The two intelligence organizations operated independently and had significant conflicts with one another.

It was difficult for one side to secretly investigate the other.

“Understood.” Luo Six nodded.

Then he suddenly asked, “Secretary Fang, is there a comrade in the organization with the codename Butterfly Flower?”

Fang Jinghua’s expression abruptly changed, and his eyes became exceptionally sharp.

“Comrade Huai Tree, why are you asking that?”

“So there really is such a comrade!”

“Comrade Huai Tree! This is not something you should be inquiring about,” Fang Jinghua said sternly. “Tell me, why would you ask this?”

Luo Six did not answer.

Instead, he solemnly took an envelope from his clothing.

“What is this?”

“About an hour ago, someone knocked on my door and slipped it through the crack beneath it,” Luo Six said.

Hearing this, Fang Jinghua was greatly alarmed.

Comrade Huai Tree was the ace undercover agent placed inside the enemy ranks by the Communist Party Municipal Committee of Hangzhou.

Apart from Fang Jinghua, no one else in the Municipal Committee knew Huai Tree’s identity.

Yet someone had delivered a letter to Huai Tree in the middle of the night!

What did that mean?

Huai Tree had been exposed!

No.

More accurately, some unknown individual knew Huai Tree’s identity.

Fang Jinghua’s migraine flared up again, and pain appeared on his face.

The wharf operation had failed.

Meng Qiang had died.

The Party Affairs Investigation Department had set an ambush at the wharf.

There was very likely a mole within the organization.

And now Huai Tree’s identity had also likely become known to an unknown outsider.

All these events had occurred within a single day.

Fang Jinghua felt his thoughts becoming chaotic.

Without speaking, he pulled the note from the envelope and looked at it carefully:

The traitor Wen Changjian has already arrived in Hangzhou by land. The steamship affair is a trap laid by Japanese agents. Butterfly Flower is the enemy’s target. Transfer immediately!

The handwriting was ugly.

It had been written in pencil and looked like the handwriting of a primary school student.

Yet to Fang Jinghua, it struck like a thunderbolt.

Wen Changjian had indeed already arrived by land.

The steamship operation had truly been a trap.

This entire affair was a Japanese intelligence scheme, and its target was Butterfly Flower!

Fang Jinghua understood immediately.

The target was Butterfly Flower.

The ultimate objective was the codebook.

The enemy actually knew about Butterfly Flower and also knew about the codebook!

Without question, Wen Changjian had provided that information to the enemy.

That traitor Wen Changjian was despicable and unforgivable!

Previously, Fang Jinghua had not realized that Wen Changjian knew about the codebook.

That was because Wen Changjian’s rank should not have granted him access to such information.

Although the comrade carrying the codebook had traveled beyond the passes together with Wen Changjian,

This matter had been classified at an extremely high level.

That comrade would never have informed Wen Changjian about it.

Most importantly, even the comrade carrying the codebook did not know that the codebook had been compiled by Butterfly Flower.